22 Information Services: Concept, Need etc.
Vara Lakshmi Rudrabhatla
I. Objectives
The module aims to
• Introduce the concepts of reference, documentation and information services
• Discuss the practice of information services in digital / virtual environment
• Illustrate the various types of information services
II. Learning outcome
After completion of the module the student will
• Distinguish the different types of information services
• Understand the growth and changing practices of information services
• Know the information services and products suitable for digital environment
III. Structure of Module
1. Introduction
2. Information Services – Origins in libraries
2.1 Reference
2.2 Documentation
2.3. Information services
2.4. Online services
2.5. Growth of Information services in India
3. Changing practices of Information services
3.1 Information services – types
3.1.1. Reference service
3.1.2. Current awareness
3.1.3. Information analysis and consolidation services
3.1.4. Translation and reprography
4. Current trends in information services
4.1. Information literacy
4.2. Webliography
4.2. Digital / Virtual reference service
4.4. Aggregator
4.5. Digital repositories
5. Summary
6. References
1. Introduction
Information is the basis of all communication. The intrinsic value of information lies in its transmission and utilization. However information is complex in nature as it is hidden in various forms and formats. The communication of information from the generation point to use point is a multistage process. The users would like to access information that should be relevant to the context, accurate for the purpose, complete for the problem and reliable. Therefore libraries are acting as channels to bridge the gap between the static information and dynamic user and facilitate continuous flow of relevant information to the users. While studying the information communication you might have studied about the barriers to communication like exponential growth, time, space, culture, language etc. To overcome each barrier different types of information services have been introduced from time to time by libraries.
Suseela Kumar observed that “A reader may need a specific type of information for a specific purpose. The number of documents are produced is very large, so large that it is impossible for the reader to keep track of its information” Hence the library’s / librarians’ main function is to provide the ‘connecting link’ between the reader and the book and set the ideas, information and knowledge in motion. For this purpose the LIS professionals have developed the various services with information retrieval as motto. The definition given by A. L. A. Glossary of Library Terms will enable you to understand the concept more clearly. According to it, service means “An agency which supplies information especially current data, in easily available form, not readily available otherwise”. So the libraries are the agencies that provide services for its members. The ‘service’ component develops high degree of rapport between library staff and users. The information services as you observe in libraries today were redesigned and reoriented from time to time suitable to user demands. Indeed the concept of information services has a long history that can be traced back from 19th century reference service to the present digital services. In the following paragraphs you can have an overview of the trends in the development of information services.
2. Evolution of concept of information service
The concept of information service has its roots in the ‘personal assistance’ offered in the public libraries of
U.S.A. Later various services have emerged under the umbrella term ‘information services. The growth of the concept is presented under reference, documentation, information and online services.
2.1. Reference service
In the earliest period the function of the libraries was to collect and preserve reading material. The scholar knows most of the books and the authors in his subject as the publications are limited hence no expectation for assistance from the librarian for information gathering or access. After inventing the printing press there was gradual growth in publication activity and the libraries collections were increased significantly. It was no longer possible for the scholars to locate the book and or information without assistance from the librarians. The initial stages of personal assistance were rudimentary and quite peripheral to the library’s main function of acquisition, arrangement and supply until the emergence of reference service in the last quarter of 19th century. According to ‘World Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science (1980)
“Reference service had its beginning in the last quarter of 19th century. By the time of World War II, most of its basic forms and techniques had been developed. Most historians of reference service find it convenient to begin with Samuel Swett Green’s 1876 paper, “Personal relations between Librarians and Readers” at a conference in Philadelphia. Until that time, the predominant view of the function of library service emphasized the acquisition and organization of library materials, and the library clientele were expected to use the material independently. Green, on the other hand, pointed that library users were unskilled in using the catalogue to find materials and lacked knowledge necessary to select the material appropriate to their needs. Personal assistance to such users would benefit them and would result in their taking a more positive view of the library.”
Green’s observations and suggestions were made with reference to public libraries. The idea got momentum with acceptance by eminent personalities like Melvil Dewey who advocated the concept of reference service. Thus the concepts of ‘aid to reader’ and ‘assistance to reader’ were initiated and by 1890 the terms were replaced by ‘reference work’. Early part of 20th century witnessed the establishment of separate reference departments in libraries with trained staff for the purpose. Public libraries in USA have drawn the attention of the government and the public, introducing noteworthy services like ‘special publics’, ‘bibliotherapy’ etc.
2.2. Documentation
The emergence of primary research findings in the form of journals and research reports and their phenomenal growth in 20th century lead the libraries to devise the new types of services It was the Second World War that necessitated speedy dissemination of information in education and scientific research. Consequently, the provision of assistance to the user was accepted as a central activity of the library. Listing of articles published in journals in narrow subject areas became a necessity to provide access to current information. Thus the concept of ‘Documentation’ was emerged. Its focus is on latest information published in primary information sources. Documentation is a process of collecting and subject classifying all the records of new observations and making them available at need to the discoverer and inventor (S.C. Bradford). According to S.R.Ranganathan it is promotion and practice of bringing into use nascent micro thought by a specialist, which is pin pointed, exhaustive and expeditious. However this service was confined in general to special libraries.
2.3. Information service
The growth of special libraries to disseminate scientific and technical information to scientists and researchers lead to the development of ‘information service’, an umbrella term that includes reference, alert, review, analysis and consolidation types of services. According to D.J.Foskett “It is mainly in scientific and industrial research that the “information service” or “information library” has developed most strikingly into its present characteristic form.” “While the major features of information services were developed by the mid-20th century, their particular concerns and activities are continually changing as user needs and information resources change.” (World Enc., 1980).
• The services are provided in anticipation of an expressed need or in response to identified needs.
• The services may range from directional, actual search for information, extraction and synthesis of information to delivery of information.
• They gained significance as all other activities of library like selection, acquisition, technical processing and shelf arrangement are considered as means to make the services possible.
In a parallel development public libraries of the West began in 1970s Information and Referral services using unconventional resources like experts from the community, information relating to basic needs like food, health, housing, employment etc. (Enc. of LIS 25:222).
2.4. Online services
The application of computer to the problems of information storage, processing and retrieval had brought in revolutionary changes in the nature of information services especially in special and higher educational institution libraries. From 1960s the secondary sources like indexes and abstracts are made available as databases following MARC format. Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), the personalized service was introduced by H.P.Luhn of IBM in 1959. Similar service called as Current Awareness to offer alerts at regular intervals in a subject had been developed.
At present a variety of services are being offered online like virtual reference desk, bulletin board, e-mail, RSS, wikis, semantic web and ontology etc. “Online services provide an infrastructure in which subscribers can communicate with one another, either by exchanging e-mail messages or by participating in online conferences(forums). In addition, the service can connect users with an almost unlimited number of third-party information providers.” (Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/online_service.html)
2.5. Growth of Information Services in India
In India the concept of ‘service’ to reader was late compared to the western world of libraries. S.R.Ranganathan started reference service in Madras University in 1926 and in 1937 the post of reference librarian was created at Madras University. In order to meet the changing information requirements, especially the scientists, documentation service was introduced after Second World War. This was a phenomenon of special libraries / information centres and other types of libraries continued with traditional reference services. The establishment of National Documentation Centres like INSDOC, NASSDOC, SENDOC, DESIDOC etc.; NISSAT; and U.G.C. National Information Centres like NCSI, Bangalore; NIC for Humanities and LIS at SNDT, Mumbai; NIC for Social Sciences at M.S.University, Baroda (Ceased their existence after INFLIBNET) facilitated implementation of variety of information services to users of specialized subject areas working in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), Research and Development Units of research and industrial organizations. At present INFLIBNET (1990) caters to the information requirements of HEIs while the networks like CSIRNET, DELNET, DRONA meets the user needs of specific subjects.
3. Changing practices of Information services
The provision of information services depends on two important factors:
• The nature of information sources that keeps on changing from clay tablets, to digital tablets.
• The nature of user information in terms of their approach, need, demand and seeking behavior that keeps on changing in relation to the work on hand.
Therefore the essential objective of information service is identifying the user’s need, selecting information resources to meet that need and assisting the user in finding and using those resources. Though there is no change in the objective of service the process of serving users underwent significant changes. The following paragraphs explain briefly the changing patterns of information services.
Basically the reference service has a gradual growth as reader’s advisory (1920s), instruction / guidance and information search and retrieval.
• Reader’s advisory to assist the readers in selecting the ‘best’ books;
• Instruction services to improve reading habits and search capabilities among the users especially in public and academic libraries;
• Provision of information / answer to reference query (short range reference) with reference interview as a tool to assess the need; literature search and retrieval (long range reference) depending on the nature of question (1930s)
• Compilation of subject bibliographies as an extension of long range reference
• Alerting services, in anticipation of user requirements, through bulletins, lists, routing of documents (1960s)
• Delivery of information through borrowing, reprography and translation.
The pattern was initiated in public and academic libraries and in fact even today it is visible in majority of these libraries.
However remarkable changes are evident in special libraries that centered on current literature in specific subject areas. They have adopted different mechanisms to offer services to target groups after assessing their information requirements. S.Seetharama has listed some of the basic mechanisms and the corresponding services provided by an information centre of a research / scientific / industrial organizations as follows:
| No. | Mechanism | Service |
| 1 | Reference/ Referral | Reference service |
| 2 | Announcement | Current Awareness Services |
| 3 | Accretion | Indexing and abstracting services |
| 4 | Evaluation | State-of-the-art report,/Trend Report, Critical
Compilation and Reviews etc |
| 5 |
Documentation access |
Reprographic and translation services |
| 6 | Promotion / Liaison | Liaison services; Technical enquiry. |
According to Seetharama the first four mechanisms generate information services while the last two mechanism lead to support services. Thus in the traditional library structure there has been paradigm shift in the services offered from basic advisory to that of critical compilations. There is also wide variation regarding the service practices depending on the nature of users and their information requirements. In India special libraries are the privileged lot which has been implementing variety of documentation and information services from 1960s onwards.
3.1. Information services–Types
Over a period of time the LIS profession has devised a variety of services depending on the changing needs of user information requirements. They are basically
• Reactive – in response to user request e.g. reference service, literature search, bibliography compilation, document delivery
• Proactive – in anticipation of user request e.g. current awareness bulletins, SDI, indexing, abstracting, reports, review services (Information analysis and repackaging)
3.1.1. Reference service
“Ask Library Anything” (ALA) was the phrase coined by Melvil Dewey to explain the nature of reference service. The reference service involves the following activities
• Providing information using reference books like Encyclopaedias, Directories etc. (Ready reference)
• This involves providing brief, factual answers to questions, such as addresses, statistics, phone numbers, etc. that can be quickly located. E.g. What is the length of River Ganges? Who is the President of Sri Lanka?
• User education: User assistance, orientation and education are generally used interchangeably. But the distinction between the concepts has been explained by A. Neelameghan.
• User education – it includes development of motivation in seeking and using information, creating awareness of availability of information n sources and different tools like indexes, abstracts etc. and developing ability to extract, synthesize and package information for individual information needs.
• E.g. Motivating a researcher in Chemistry with available resources, introducing Chemical Abstracts and how to use it, how to prepare bibliographies and abstracts for the selected information.
• User orientation – it involves instructing the user to understand specific library / information system, location of information sources, using of tools like classification, catalogue, computers and networks to access information and developing familiarity wit hthe services and previleges of the system.
• E.g. How to use OPAC? How the entries of an indexing periodical are arranged?
• User assistance – it includes helping the user in understanding the subject coverage and limitations of specific information source, help in interpreting the data elements in a catalogue entry, assistance in repackaging work of retrieved information.
• Literature search: Providing information after literature search for periodical articles for relevant information which may take more time than the ready reference. (Long range reference) E.g. A user seeks literature on ‘Variations in the DNA sequence among people’ ‘Therapeutic value of yogic practices’
• Referral: Giving referral service for enquiries which the information centre cannot answer. E.g. Providing the user with addresses of plastic surgeons.
Thus reference service includes reference, reader’s guidance and literature search and referral.
3.1.2. Current awareness services
Current awareness services are meant for the speedy announcement of newly acquired information or documents. Timeliness is the essence of this service, so it is called as alerting / announcement mechanism. Bimalendu Guha noted that this service is aimed at satisfying the current approach of users. The types of services include
• Title announcement service E.g. Current contents is a rapid alerting service database that is published online and in several different printed subject sections from the Institute for Scientific Information, now part of Thomson Reuters,. It reproduces the title pages from several hundred major peer-reviewed scientific journals, and was published weekly, with the issues containing title pages from journal issues only a few weeks previously. Still published in print, it is presently available as one of the databases included in Thomson’s ISI Web of Knowledge with daily updates, and also through other database aggregators.Current Contents Connect® is a current awareness database that provides easy Web access to complete tables of contents, abstracts, bibliographic information, and abstracts from the most recently published issues of leading scholarly journals, as well as from more than 7,000 relevant, evaluated websites.
• Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) is a current awareness system which alerts the user with latest publications in specific field of interest. The service is made possible by maintaining user profile and matching it with documents as soon as they enter the system.
• Announcement of research in progress in a particular subject field or group of institutions.
E.g. ShodhGangotri : Repository of Indian Research in Progress details (Synopses / Research proposals for PhD programme)
• Notifications for forthcoming conferences. E.g. Conference Alerts: Academic Conferences World Wide (http://www.conferencealerts.com/)
• Newspaper clippings – these are the excerpts / articles cut from newspaper or magazine of issues of current interest or for future reference. E.g. Medical Newspaper Clippings 1901- 1906
3.1.3. Information analysis and condensation services
The original information is analyzed and condensed or surrogated using data elements that represent the documents. These provide as much literature as possible on a subject i.e. exhaustive literature. Therefore they are prepared to meet the exhaustive approach of users. These are broadly classified as condensation and evaluative type Condensation services are one of earliest services as bibliographies have a long history. The literature gathered is exhaustive in its coverage and analysis as well. It is difficult even for a big library to acquire all documents, more specifically all journals in a given subject. It is equally inconvenient for the user to browse all literature available in his field of interest. Therefore condensation type products are a necessity in libraries. The objective of these services is to be exhaustive in coverage of literature, describing every element of the document representation with an ultimate aim of guiding the user to the primary source. The condensed type services are categorized further as Location type – e.g. Indexes, Subject bibliographies, Catalogues Accretion type – Abstract services, Extracts, Technical digests.
Subject bibliographies are lists of materials that relate to a particular discipline or subject scope. They give an overview of the discipline. According to Ranganathan, “A subject bibliography is a document bibliography confined to a specific subject field only, instead of covering the entire universe of subjects.” E.g. Asian Social Science bibliography, 1966 – , Delhi, Vikas, 1970 – (Publisher varies)
Union catalogues: It is a catalogue listing the holdings of libraries with a scope that may be local, regional, national or international. The primary purpose of union catalogues is location of documents so that the user can access the same through inter library loan.
E.g. NISCAIR – National Union Catalogue of Scientific Serials in India (NUCSSI) 1982 – Ranganathan, S.R.,Compiler. Union Catalogue of Learned Periodical Publications in South Asia, Delhi, ILA, 1953
Indexes indicate the data or information through descriptors and describe the bibliographical details of the document through indicators. Every aspect of the document that is acquired by the information system/ library has to be identified, approach anticipate, and correctly indexed. Thus indexing service provides ease of approach in a subject field with exhaustive coverage.
Abstracts and extracts involve the process of assigning descriptors to each document to identify the data or information i.e. citation of the document and summarization of the content in an abstract form. It summarizes the essential points of the document thereby providing access to important content of the document and avoiding unnecessary duplication of research in the same field. Thus abstracts are comprehensive but highly condensed presentation of information. Initiated in 1965 the abstracting services are most patronized services by scientific community and now almost all subjects in the universe of knowledge have abstracting services.
E.g. Index Medicus, Monthly. Washington, National Library of Medicine, 1960- . It indexes about 5051 periodicals by author and subject giving a citation under each entry. It is cumulated annually. The subjects covered include veterinary medicine, sociology, zoology, biology, chemistry, psychology besides medicine and health. In the subject section, references are grouped according to the language of the articles, with English articles getting preference, followed by articles in other languages, all arranged alphabetically by language. Titles in foreign language are translated into English.
The Cumulated Index Medicus was brought out by American Medical Association since 1960- to 2000 and was stopped after 41 volumes due to lack of demand. MEDLINE (1965) is made available through OCLC (the online vendor) and now as PubMed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Biological Abstracts provides the latest information in every life science discipline, and contains more than 13.2 million archival records from as far back as 1969, with more than 370,000 citations added each year. Most of the records include informative abstracts written by the author. This database is produced by Thomson Scientific, Inc. Now Biological abstracts is accessible through Thomson Reuters Web of knowledge platform Source: http://thomsonreuters.com/web-of- knowledge/
Evaluative services: The condensation type services provide information on bibliographical details of the document that facilitates identification and location of the document. Abstracts summarizes the subject content but are highly condensed. Therefore to provide the user with salient findings in articles by reviewing the same evaluative type services have evolved. They distill the intellectual content of the literature in a specific field and repackage the information. Thus, information consolidation and repackaging requires evaluation of the content. Such services involve evaluation, compaction, and simplification. The stages of repackaging activity are selective extraction, correlation and evaluation of information that are relevant to the needs of a specific group of users. The resultant products are state-of-the-art reports, trend reports, critical compilation of data, reviews etc. Reviews have a significant role in consolidating the totality of current information and providing an overview of the subject.
State-of-the art reports emphasize recency and up-to-dateness. In order to achieve this currency, state-of-the-art reports are often published as informal reports, prepared on demand, oriented to a restricted audience.
E.g. IFLA. Information literacy state-of-the art report (2012). The series published from Columbia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and United Kingdom. http://www.ifla.org/publications/information-literacy-state-of-the-art-reports
Digests – The management of organizations needs special type of evaluative services that helps them in planning, research and development etc. Some of the services are digests, market information services, critical compilation on technology transfer information etc. Digests are tools for the management and executives to locate cases on specific issues.
E.g. US Supreme Court. United States Supreme Court Digest (1974- date)
3.1.4 Translation services
The translation and reprography are support services for document access. It is estimated that the non- English publications by scientists and technologists approximately amounts to 50% of the world literary output. Therefore provision of translation service became imperative. For translation there are translation pools or banks at international and national levels. The pools maintain indexes to serve as a tool to notify and create awareness of available translated works so that other organizations to obtain copies of translations.
E.g. UNESCO: World Bibliography of translations. The Index Translationum is a list of books translated in the world, i.e. an international bibliography of translations. The Index Translationum was created in 1932.
In India NISCAIR provides translation of S&T documents from 20 foreign languages into English. The languages include Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish, etc. The clients include National Laboratories, S&T institutes, R&D organisations, Corporate and Public Sector Undertakings, Universities, Research Scholars etc. NISCAIR provides reverse translation (English into foreign language) also.
With application of technologies now the indexes are available as online databases. Further the automatic translation services are also available though the library / information systems yet to adopt them.
4. Current trends in information services
The Information services have undergone a shift in role from 1990s with the introduction of information and communication technologies. The trend is towards access management rather than information acquisition and distribution. Wide variety of computer based bibliographic and full text databases, and the means for searching the databases at any time in an interactive mode has brought metamorphic changes in the library environment and the information services. The functional changes in libraries can be represented pictographically as follows:
User: The users in contemporary digital environment do not need a mediator or librarian to search information on their behalf; instead they can access information, as end users, in an interactive mode. Now first search for information is not in the library but on the internet. Users are making use of search engine to locate information rather than seeking help from the librarian.
Collections: In a traditional library the librarians had clear idea about the type of collection to be maintained but in the digital environment it is not so. The increasing penetration of the Internet in information storage and handling is significantly changing reading patterns and reading behavior. More and more e-resources are being made available than ever before in different forms or types. They include: E-Books; E-Journals; E-Zine; E-Thesis and dissertation (ETD); E-News Papers; E- Reference books; CD-ROMs; Data bases. The noteworthy point here is majority of them are accessible to users without any mediation of the library / librarian.
Information services: The benefits of information services lie in that they can help users to get the right information and thereby enhance their understanding and application. Libraries in India generally offer the conventional information services such as loan, reference, user orientation, current awareness and photocopying. The services are primarily on demand and occasionally alert type and based on print collections. Traditionally, library information services were limited to the materials that a library owned. Now electronic means of communication are changing the mechanism of information services. According to Drotner (2005) “The challenge facing the physical libraries is intensified by the fact that many traditional services performed there are taken over by users of the virtual libraries. When the majority of mundane services leave the physical library – and the librarian’s desk – then librarians in the physical library can downplay their functions in favour of virtual services; or they can redefine their role from access and individual service provision to users and facilitator of more sustained collective learning processes.”
The academic libraries are witnessing the advantage of library 2.0 and moving into library 3.0 arena. The library 1.0 is computer based and 2.0 offers use of dynamic contents, blogs, social networks, tagging, wikis, podcasts and mashup technologies on web. However the information is scattered and unorganized all over the web. Now, Web 3.0 is prominently based up on organizing this scattered or unorganized information. The application of semantic technologies and ontology will be the key aspects in this third generation of web.
Now the information services are a blend of traditional and electronic. The libraries are continuing the traditional services like keeping bibliographic track of the status of all accessions either in print or e- format; reference; current awareness and retrospective searches; specialized bibliographic consultation and support; Indexing and abstracting databases; delivery of full-text (print / electronic). In addition they are able to offer a new series of services to their traditional service base for the following reasons:
• The digital environment supports the libraries to integrate its services and bridge gap between electronic resources and netizens
• Now the user as well as the library professionals can use bibliographic tools like web OPACs, search engines, subject directories, subject gateways that permit easy searching and browsing
• The traditional services can be modified into embedded information literacy training modules to assist in information seeking; open access institutional repositories; webliographies, value added aggregator services.
• A variety of new products and services like Library 2.0 and Library 3.0 based services can be promoted
Consequence to these developments the existing services are either modified or replaced with modern services.
| Traditional | Digital environment |
| User education | Information literacy |
| Subject bibliographies | Webliographies |
| Reference service | Virtual / Digital reference |
| Indexing and abstracting | Aggregator services |
| Advanced search | Digital repositories, archives |
4.1 Information literacy
Information literacy is not a new concept to LIS, rather an extension of deep-rooted user education / orientation service. Information literacy is the ability to recognize information needed and then locate, evaluate, and effectively use needed information. As it forms the basic skill to access information, the librarians need to constitute a new paradigm for libraries. The technologies offer an opportunity to the users to have self-accessed to information without intermediaries. To make use of technology based e-resources, the user has to be trained in technological skills to recognize, locate, compare, organize and synthesize information on the web.
The information literacy instruction can be taken in phased manner to impart basic skills of information handling. The contents may include:
• skills to interact with internet and use various net based services;
• information search tools and strategies;
• use of the available consortia, databases etc.
• use of digital collections – open access publications, digital repositories, digital archives;
• e-publishing through wikis and web writing.
The training methods vary depending on the course structure and the level of users. There are a number of models available for imparting information literacy. The more popular strategies are the
- introductory course
- stand-alone course
- integrated with curriculum and
- online tutorials
4.2 Webliography
Librarians are familiar with the compilation of bibliographies for the bibliographical control of print documents. Now, similar control mechanism is developed for electronic documents named as webliography by Dr. James Frankel, 2000. The webliography presents a wide range of electronic resources related to a specific subject that are freely available on the Internet. Webliography denotes an enumerative list of hypertext links surrounding a common subject or theme following standard citation guidelines.
However limited user time to access the internet, lack of search skills, difficult to find pertinent information from the huge i.e. finding a needle from hay stack. This situation has necessitated Webliographies. The bibliographical control of Web resources helps the user to identify and locate information, to save time and to have optimum access and use of information
Dariush Alimohammadi suggested following phases of webliography:
• Selecting the topic
• Search the web; navigation of web with one of the popular search tools like google, google scholar, subject gateways like Intute etc.
• Browsing and selecting the best among the retrieved hits following the criteria for web site evaluation
• Creating a web page; some software like Microsoft FrontPage, Netscape Composer and Dream weaver can be manipulated.
• Writing an introduction; preparing a table of content to help user to navigate the subject gateway easier.
E.g. Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 2008. Web. 1 June 2009. (www.hrw.org)
4.3. Digital /Virtual reference service
Traditionally reference services were limited to the materials that a library owned. Now electronic means of communication are changing the way research can be done. The Internet is also expanding traditional library collections and improving location and access to reference resources (e.g., ready reference materials and pathfinders through Websites, access to catalogs and electronic reference sources through telnet). Digital reference service allows users to get information from a library at any time – either access the library’s website, or use the late-night reference services – such as “Ask a Librarian” or “IM a Librarian,” where patrons can send an instant message to librarians. Users need not have to be local or even come to the library itself. It is popular with students who like the idea of not having to physically come to the library for information and/or instruction.
Digital reference and AskA services are Internet-based question-and-answer services. In addition to answering questions, experts may also provide users with referrals to other online and print sources of information. The question/answer process in digital reference services is modeled after the methods practiced by reference librarians in traditional library settings. As in a face-to-face interview, experts determine the amount of information appropriate for the user, the applicability of that information, and the level of information required. User queries must occasionally be clarified, and an online reference interview may be conducted to help define the user’s information needs.
One of the first services to go online was the Electronic Access to Reference Service (EARS), launched by the University of Maryland Health Services Library in Baltimore in 1984. Although initial e-mail-based digital reference efforts received little attention from patrons, digital reference services proliferated over time and became increasingly popular, eventually spawning such internationally-known services as AskERIC in 1992 and the Internet Public Library in 1995.
Although there are slight variations among services, all digital reference and AskA services function in a similar manner. Human intermediaries evaluate incoming questions via e-mail or Web interface, and then decide on an appropriate course of action. New questions may be checked against an archive of previously answered questions for an appropriate answer, and if no suitable answer is found, passed along to an expert for answering. The expert supplies the necessary information, which may consist of an actual answer (factual information), pointers to additional resources (information referral), or some combination. Responses are sent to the user’s e-mail address or posted to a Web site for the user to access at a later date. In some smaller AskA services, the experts themselves may also monitor the incoming questions.
Social network services like Face Book, My Space, Blogs can also be used to communicate with the user and provide him ready reference information.
4.4. Aggregator services
In spite of the availability of millions of data as free access on the web, majority of the users in our country are not able to make optimum utilization. Probable reasons may be lack of awareness, non-availability of net access for long hours and lack of time. Hence the librarian has to play the role of an aggregator. Aggregator collects the freely available information on the web, categorize, organize and index and disseminate to the relevant individuals or groups. There are number of directories and websites that lead to the open access books, journals, reference sources, conference proceedings etc. There are a number of open access journals, e-books and e-reference sources. To cite a few,
Open Access Journals
• Directory of Open Access Journals (www.doaj.org)
• Open J-Gate of Informatics India (http://www.openj-gate.org/index.asp)
Free e-books:
• World eBook Fair (http://worldebookfair.com/)
• Free Books (http://www.e-book.com.au)
E- reference sources:
• Internet Public Library-Reference: (http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ref00.00.00)
• Internet Library For Librarians (http://www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/),D-Lib- ReadyReference: (http://www.dlib.org/reference.html),
However they are under utilized as the user finds it difficult to precisely locate the relevant information. The procedure is similar to preparing a documentation list or a trend report but additionally providing full text access.
• The librarians can download articles on specific themes from the free web resources.
• Aggregate them as per theme / topic and maintain folders.
• Make them available for users or forward them to concerned faculty, researchers / scientists as e-mail attachment.
Such value added services will facilitate the higher order user satisfaction, the ultimate aim of any library. Further such value added services enhance the image of the professional as ‘reactive and creative’.
E.g. EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is an aggregator of full-text content.
Informatics India, Bangalore is one of the world’s largest aggregators – indexing millions of research and technical papers from more than 28,500+ journals and hosting them for access on internally developed technology platform.
4.5. Digital repositories
An Institutional Repository is an online locus for collecting and preserving — in digital form — the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution or university. It is organizing institutionally generated information accessible online for on campus and global users. Improved ‘visibility’ to the intellectual out put of institutions and the results of investment.. Interoperable repository supports the researcher’s ability to search seamlessly; facilitate interdisciplinary research and discovery. The heterogeneous data of repositories can be mined for new thoughts with a global platform. The digital repositories contribute for a sound protection and preservation of institutions’ intellectual property. It enhances access by removing access barriers, which in turn improves research capacity including the collaborative research. Brings together the intellectual output and the organization which otherwise get separated in conventional publishing system.
E.g. Institutional Repository of National Institute of Technology, Rourkela e-theses; Vidyanidhi Digital Library, University of Mysore.
5. Summary
Libraries have an inherent obligation to provide information services to satisfy the academic, research, and general information needs of users. Therefore the libraries set a goal to offer different information services suitable to information sought by users. In this process they have developed variety of information services. Information services underwent significant changes from the status of ‘personal assistance to reader’ to the present web-based information services. Both traditional and Web based services are important to satisfy user information requirements. Therefore the present information services are blend of conventional and digital services.
This unit has dealt with the origins of information services as reference and how hey transformed as documentation and information services over a period of time. It also discussed four types of information services namely reference, current awareness, information analysis and consolidation and support services like translation. It has been observed that advances in computers and telecommunication technologies are exerting great impact on information services and brought in changing pattern of traditional services as information literacy, Webliography, Virtual / Digital reference, aggregator services and digital repositories and archives for advance search. The current trend facilitates linking information retrieval of full text electronic resources at local as well as global level with real time access.
6. References
- Drotner, Kirsten (2005). Library innovation for the knowledge society. Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly, vol. 38 (2). http://www.splq.info/issues/vol38_2/07.htm (accessed on 6th October, 2013)
- World Enc. Of Library and Information Science. Chicago, ALA., 1980
- Foskett D.J. Information Services in Libraries. Delhi, Akashdeep Publishing House, 1992
- Seetharama, S. Planning of Library and Information Systems and Services. Bangalore, DRTC, ISIS, 1985
- Suseela Kumar. Reference service in the modern world. In The changing concept of reference service. Sarada Ranganathan Lecture series 7). Bangalore, Sarada Ranganathan Endoowment in Library and Information Science, 1972. Delhi, Vikas Pub., 1974
- Sharma J.S.and Grover, D.R. Reference service and sources of information. Delhi, Ess Ess Pub., 1987.